on the broadcast tonight, after a history-making election night, four more years for president obama tonight. how he won, why and why mitt romney lost. and the message the voters across america sent last night. we'll have a look at the trends and the results. also, tonight, the east coast is taking another hit of extreme weather, and it will only get worse. it means more rough weather of people hit by hurricane sandy. the storm and election night news begins now. good evening, while the

nation tries to recover from a deep recession, and in a presidential race we were after all, all told was as close and as tight as they get. president obama, the 44th president of the united states was reelected last night. he was somehow able to stitch together a convincing victory, s win i winning just about all the battleground states that were so heavily fought over in the most expensive race in u.s. history. it was early this morning when the president appeared with his family, becoming the third consecutive two-term president we elected. not happening since the presidents jefferson, madison and monroe. president obama won both a decisive victory in both the electoral college.

and here on the east, the nor'easter, a storm so fierce the governor of new jersey said it will move the state's recovery effort backward for a time. and here is a look at the skating rink we used as part of the coverage on election night. tonight, it is under a layer of swirling snow. back inside, we begin with what happened last night. the president's historic re-election to a second term. he is back on his way to the white house tonight, where kristen welker starts off the coverage. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian, after the grueling election, the president returns back to the white house. and with the economy limping back to health, the stakes could not be higher. the president headed back to washington where the voters decided he should stay for four more years. at his campaign headquarters in washington, he thanked staff and supporters. this, after a night of emotional

celebration in his hometown of chicago. 20,000 turned out, sharing tears and hugs. >> a long campaign is now over. and whether i earned your vote or not, i have listened to you. i have learned from you. and you have made me a better president. >> reporter: a passionate speech. >> michelle, i have never loved you more. >> reporter: mixed with a little bit of humor, aimed at his daughters. >> i am so proud of you guys, but i will say that for now, one dog is probably enough. >> reporter: the president has held almost 200 campaign events, logging thousands of miles on board air force one, the two candidates spending nearly $900 million, making this the most expensive campaign in history. it is the victory that at times seemed impossible. and sharply divided electorate. >> a toxic and disruptive debate

here on capitol hill. >> reporter: mr. obama seemed to recognize the renewed urgency for bipartisanship. >> i am looking to reach out and work with both parties to reach the challenges we can only solve together. >> reporter: he promised to accomplish this things this time around that he was not able to accomplish first time around. >> reducing our deficit, re-forming our tax code, freeing ourselves from foreign oil, we have more work to do. >> reporter: and mr. obama tried to bury the hatchet with his one-time foe. >> and i also look forward to sitting down with governor romney, to talk about ways to move the country forward. >> reporter: he posted this photo, which quickly became the most liked ever on facebook. just one more image of barack obama's groundbreaking journey,

now the president attempted to show he is serious about bipartisanship. and right down the street, brian, the work has already begun on the work. i am told the crew on air force one gave president obama a congratulateory cake on the way home. now to all the questions being aimed at romney campaign headquarters in boston after a sad night there. and the question, what went wrong in the romney campaign. peter alexander covering for us there tonight. good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you here in boston, this is apparently the intersection of politics and the nor'easter. in the words of one top aide to the romney campaign, the mood in that campaign is a lot like this weather, dreary, at the end of a six-year long quest for the white house. tonight, mitt romney is left asking is himself what might have been. dressed in a business suit and surrounded by family and friends and for a final few hours, the

secret service team, mitt romney this morning left his boston hotel, quickly returning to life as a private citizen. >> hey, governor, can you give us a word? >> reporter: on this november 7th, the day romney promised they would get to work, the only work to do, packing up. after 90 minutes after most networks had called the race, mr. romney took the stage alone. >> like so many of you, paul and i have left everything on the field. we have given our all to this campaign. >> reporter: but his disappointment at the end of a six-year quest was palpable. >> i so wish i had been able to fill your hopes and to be able to lead the country in another direction, but the nation chose another leader. >> reporter: mr. romney thanked supporters and staff, but thanked his wife of 43 years. >> she would have been a wonderful first lady. >> reporter: today, paul ryan who was elected to the house and

will have a much bigger voice, released a statement. i am very proud of the campaign we ran and am grateful to romney for the honor of being his running mate. hours later as results poured in and excitement drained from the election night ballroom, aides cut to the giant screens, cueing the band to play. and today, one of mr. romney's top surrogates, new jersey governor chris christie spoke to his fellow republican. >> i was extraordinarily disappointed last night. i was surprised, you know, that it ended as quickly as it did. but it is the way it goes, people decide elections. >> reporter: another put it more succinctly, putting it this way, this one stinks. and as governor romney left his headquarters, he was there wrapping up a good-bye meeting with his staff. now wrapping up the headquarters for possibly the wrong time.

>> peter, thank you, and lester holt is here with us in the studio after we all went through this long night with a look at how the obama campaign was able to stitch together this victory. >> well, the short answer is, they recognized the demographic shifts in this country, brian. you can argue the romney campaign was working from a very solid playbook, but in hindsight it may have been a playbook out of date and based on old assumpti assumptions. mitt romney's loss has conservatives wondering about a shrinking republican base. the percentage of white voters has dropped to 72%, while the same percentage of latino vote iss ers who lean democratic, have grown. in 2004, president bush got 40% of the latino vote. john mccain, 31% in 2008, and

for mitt romney this year, just 27%. in the wake of tuesday, republicans soul-searching will look at places like florida's osceola county, bush won it. but a growing number of constituency now helped obama there. >> you go out and disrespect the hispanic community like that, you think we don't notice that? >> reporter: in florida alone, the hispanic population has grown since 2008. but among them, republicans are perceived as tone deaf on critical topics, immigration reform. >> well, the answer is people decide they can do better by going home because they can't find work here. >> reporter: the words matter. >> even though barack obama has deported more undocumented people in the history of the

united states, it is the words that are used. self-deportation, i think, was really, really hurtful. >> reporter: republicans must think about how to balance their core ideas against this shifting demographic landscape. >> republicans, at least at the national level want to win elections. and along this path, they can't win national elections. there will be a debate, then, on how you react to that. but i think that assumption is going to be broadly shared in the party. >> reporter: the post-mortem will take time. and among the questions that republicans will ask themselves as they pore through the data, are these so-called swing is states really swing states? and are the demographics so profound, at least in the races, have they become blue states? >> well, one of the many questions they will go over as we come out of this, lester holt. thank you. and chuck todd last night in the engine room was watching a lot of this happen in the numbers in

realtime as it happened. chuck, you have more proof today? >> reporter: well, i do, and the obama campaign used a no not-so-secret government document, called the 2010 census, and essentially what we saw, they did it not only in the battleground states, but they said okay, we're not going to carry any new counties and care r carry the electorate outside the counties, in fact they carried fewer in florida, but would find white voters. in florida, in 2008, the white vote accounted for 71% of the vote. well, in 2012, yesterday, the white vote fell down to 66%. so all of a sudden, more than a third of voters in florida were non-white. what does it mean going forward, brian? i just want to show you what it

means for the electoral map. i think in 2016, you will arizona, texas, possibly in play because that is where the hispanic population has been booming. >> all right, chuck todd, thank you so much, and andrea mitchell has more on what happened last night. >> reporter: a lot happened last night, when it was all over, the house remained republican, th senate, democratic, but that doesn't mean a lot didn't change in the election last night. in a year when a male senate candidate talked about "legitimate rape," and mitt romney spoke awkwardly about besi binders full of women, they elected five women last night. ranging from elizabeth warren, who defeated scott brown in

massachusetts. >> you better believe we're going to fight for equal pay for equal work. >> reporter: and tammy baldwin, the first openly gay member, in what used to be called the world's exclusive men's club. >> i will be a senator for all of wisconsin. >> reporter: as for richard mourdock and todd akin, they both lost. akin, to claire mccaskill. the top officials are now women, the governor, both senators, and the members of congress. democrats started to recruit women candidates almost two years ago. >> almost at the beginning of the time when the republicans came into power in the house in the first few bills they put out, took away a woman's right to choose. >> reporter: for the first time, white men will be in the minority among house democrats. but house republicans will be more white and male. although michelle bachmann won

her race, two states, maryland and maine, became the first to vote for gay marriage. and washington state and colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana. massachusetts legalized it for medicinal use only. but pot didn't do so well in oregon and arkansas, where vote ers defeated making it legal. the times are changing. boy, are they, andrea mitchell, thank you for joining us tonight. we'll take a break, and when we come back, a big storm that is an urgent matter for millions of people along the east coast tonight. many of them still racked up and suffering from the last one. cool. you found it. wow. nice place. yeah. [ chuckles ] the family thinks i'm out shipping these. smooth move. you used priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships for a low, flat rate. paid for postage online and arranged a free pickup. and i'm gonna track them online, too. nice.

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miserable for a whole lot of people. the nor'easter that is upon is in the northeast tonight, the new jersey governor said today will actually set back recovery efforts in that state. nbc's katy tur is in the small peninsula community of seabright, new jersey, not far from new york city to the south along the jersey shore. >> reporter: good evening, brian, you don't see this often, there is accumulation and flooding, here in the town of seabright, we have the ocean in front of me, the river behind me. it floods during nor'easters and got hit hard by hurricane sandy. you can see that in the buildings behind me. now, this town along with the rest of coastal new jersey is wondering what they will wake up to. ten days after hurricane sandy ripped apart the jersey shore, towns are scrambling to prepare for the first major winter storm, and restore the battered coastline. the weather channel's mike

seidel this morning? here at point pleasant beach, they spent the morning bringing sand out to the beach, building a dune that is twice as high but not as wide, as the one wiped out by hurricane sandy. >> reporter: new jersey governor chris christie warned this hurricane could stall the restoration efforts. >> i hate setbacks, i don't tolerate them well, but this one i can't control. the weather is what it is, we'll have to deal with it. >> reporter: the town of seabright is empty and broken, as the town awaits another storm surge, the town councilman has the hard job to make sure folks get out of town for their own good. >> we have people here calling us, asking us to come get them, it is dangerous. >> reporter: throughout the area, there are 369,000 homes and businesses without power. among those trying to cope, one-time jersey resident, mike

briscoe. he stayed for sandy, which poured four feet of water in his basement. and he is ignoring the mandatory evacuation this time. >> the worst thing that can happen is the tree being pushed along the house. >> reporter: up and down the shore, neighbors are helping neighbors. >> all we can do is just pray for our friends and people around us. >> reporter: here, where the next cruel storm could take away efforts. there are emergency shelters open and warming centers for anybody who needs to get warm. and brian, i will tell you it is very cold out here. >> katy tur, seabright, new jersey, and into the studio we go, janice huff, we have folks who still can't see the broadcast. this is just about more than the region can take. >> reporter: exactly, brian, and with the wind so strong out there with the storm, people who maybe just got their power back may lose their power again. it is snowing out here in new

york city, like it is the middle of january. and katy tur mentioned the cold. the storm surge goes all the way from birkshire all the way to new jersey. and it looks like the moderate to heavy snow will continue all the way from new york city up through western parts of new hampshire, through midnight tonight. continuing through parts of maine and tomorrow morning, it will slowly wind down, in terms of the totals, two to four expected, four to eight from western new jersey and into western connecticut, into the birk shire. thank you, when we come back, we'll take a look at the plunge on wall street. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if you could combine

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. on wall street today, something of a post-election hangover after worries about europe's debt crisis exploded back on the scene, worries about

our debt here at home contributed to what was one of the biggest losses, nasdaq lost almost 75, s&p down almost 34. we have asked maria bartiromo to join us from cnbc to answer the question, what is going on here? >> well, a lot is going on, brian, a very tough day on wall street, part of the reason we know now, we won't see much improvement in europe over the term. but a big disappointment was what was to come under barack obama? the investment community is worried about higher taxes and higher regulations. and as a result, they sold today, and the fiscal cliff, let's not forget at the end of the year we'll see $600 billion in spending cuts take place, very well meaning layoffs possibly, couple that with tax increases for most income levels, if they don't get their arms around this fiscal cliff. that is the big issue, people

want to see compromise in washington, so before we actually know what is going to happen, the investors said let me sell now. >> maria bartiromo, thank you as always. we want to give you a heads-up. we're going long tonight for an extra half hour, but if your nbc station doesn't stay with us, please be able to stream live on our coverage on the web, on nbc. another break, another coverage, the first daughters growing up before our very eyes. work on runny noses. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have an antihistamine. really? [ male announcer ] really. alka-seltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a fast acting antihistamine to relieve your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus. ♪ oh what a relief it is! ♪ [ male announcer ] to learn more about the cold truth and save $1 visit alka-seltzer on facebook.

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. one of the enduring images from last night was when the first family emerged in chicago. a lot of people were thinking about the memory of four years ago, and all parents can understand how fast the kids grow up. of course not all kids have to grow up in the public eye. but what a striking image of the obama family last night, and there you have the obama daughters from four years ago. the daughters, by the way, malia, is now 14, sasha is now eleven, again, we are staying put now, on this special coverage. while most of our nbc stations

will carry our second half hour, if yours is not where you live, you can watch our live broadcast streaming on nbclive.com. for now, that is our broadcast on this wednesday after the election. thank you for joining us, i'm brian williams, we hope to see you either way back here tomorrow night. good evening.